The present invention generally relates to mobile phone accessory management, and more specifically to management of the capabilities and resources of a mobile phone accessory through dynamic software loading.
When a mobile phone accessory is connected to a mobile phone, the user interface of the mobile phone typically needs to change to allow the user to exploit the additional capabilities offered by the mobile phone accessory. For example, a digital camera accessory will require additional user interface features for taking, viewing, and storing pictures. Ultimately, the mobile phone software may require modification to allow the user to manage the resources associated with the mobile phone accessory or to manage the mobile phone accessory itself. New or updated mobile phone software could add the functionality a mobile phone needs to take full advantage of the accessory. For example, mobile phone software may not initially enable pictures to be attached to emails; however, connecting a digital camera accessory to a mobile phone would necessitate the addition of such a feature.
Mobile phone accessories are often developed subsequent to the production of a mobile phone. Interaction between a mobile phone and a mobile phone accessory, as well as management of the mobile phone accessory itself, is typically restricted to pre-existing fixed menu structures and menu options already loaded into the mobile phone. Thus, support for the mobile phone accessory may be limited since the mobile phone was produced without knowledge of the subsequently developed mobile phone accessory.
With today's advanced mobile phone accessories, it is desirable to use a more flexible means of ensuring interaction between the mobile phone and a mobile phone accessory and to more fully realize the capabilities of the mobile phone accessory. Further, it is desirable to perform actions with the mobile phone accessory that are not conventionally associated with menu functions and to take advantage of the graphical user interface of a mobile phone. A higher level of security may also be exploited to effectively manage the extended capabilities.